June Nuts and Bolts

It's a broken record...our apologies for all seven followers of this blog for our lack of bloggage.  We keep meaning to update things, but as the adage says, the road to Hades is paved with good intentions.  We fully promise to post some photos and updates on our adventures.  First off, here is our June Nuts and Bolts.  For those who don't know, this is the monthly Smith Family (my extended family) newsletter.  Just in case you wanted to know what we did last month...

06.01: I was able to attend all of our ward’s youth conference held up as Aspen Grove. We had great activities, a hike, games, firesides, testimony meetings, a dance, etc. As usual, I was so impressed with the youth and our leaders.

06.03: Elizabeth attended a Relief Society garden party. We kicked off our ward Friends of Scouting program, over which I was in charge this month. It ended up being quite successful.

06.04: Elizabeth and I made it to a fun Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band concert up in Sandy. Great atmosphere and excellent performance.

06.05: It was our family’s pleasure to attend the 90th birthday of a dear brother in our ward. We can only hope to make it there ourselves!

06.07: Thank you to all who attended the Smith FHE held at Grandma’s place. We played Family Feud, sang some hymns, and had refreshments. There was a great turnout!

06.09: Attended our monthly ward parenting class, this one on disciplining little children.

06.10: We love Springville’s Art City Days! We made it to the fireman’s breakfast before I headed to the annual LDS Philanthropies Vision Conference. Elizabeth joined me for dinner that night. During the two days, we heard from Bishop Edgley, President Samuelson, Elder Paul Johnson, and several others. I came away inspired and more grateful for my employment.

06.11: We had an enjoyable game night with some great friends.

06.12: We went to the Utah Asian Festival and the girls thoroughly enjoyed the candy and face painting. Elizabeth and I had a group date with neighbors—wallyball and dinner out.

06.16: The ward missionaries came to share a message with us.

06.19: Continuing our goal of expanding our horizons, we went to the Utah Summer Festival in Orem, learning more about water conservation. Elizabeth and I went to another concert, this time with Cherie Call and Sam Payne.

06.20: Father’s Day was simply wonderful. Elizabeth and the kids made it special with gifts, books, and dinner. I am so grateful to be a father!

06.22: We were part of Utah’s tiny minority that voted…sad commentary!

06.24: Dad and I went up the Energy Solutions Arena for the Utah Jazz NBA Draft party…fun time, surprising pick. While we didn’t boo like the majority of the crowd, we weren’t too pleased that night.

06.26: Incroyable…our little red-head turned three. Tayah is such a joy in our lives. She brings such an energy and spirit to our home. We had the Chucky Cheese experience and she loves her gifts.

06.27: We had the family down for our June dinner to celebrate Sarah, Danny, Tayah, and the fathers. Great food and even better company!

Stockton continues to the world’s best baby. He is a smiler, loves to army crawl, is sprouting three new teeth (to add to the two he has), hasn’t gained much weight as of late, is managing to sleep through the night, and has super separation anxiety when being held by someone not named Mommy or Daddy. He patiently puts up with his sisters’ acts of love!

Tayah has no desire whatsoever to potty train. We tried earlier in the month to some minor success. We’ll keep praying and hoping. She still occupies her time with reading, dancing, dressing up, etc.

Kadence does the same things and has really become more social the past year with her friends. She loves Sunbeams and is very, very good during Primary. We love our three angels.

Elizabeth keeps the kids busy with many fun activities during the day. The visit Seven Peaks twice a week, as well as library, ward play group, and other get-togethers that allow children and mothers the breaks they deserve.

We made some fun purchases this month: a new dining set (or was this in May?), an entertainment center, and a freezer. We enjoyed the cooler and longer than normal Spring, but are officially feeling the summer heat. All is great and we love life. And you all too!

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

No one is more important, has more influence, and can change the world more than a mother can (not to take any importance away from fathers!). Please view this and don't hesitate to share it...there is someone out there who needs to hear this type of message today.

Happy Birthday Dolly!

Our little, fiery, full-of-life Tayah is three years old today and we can hardly believe it!  She has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives and family with her adorable smile, spunk, and sweet spirit.  We love you so very much Tayah!

                                                       Falling asleep kneeling after a long day at Disney!

Art City Days

We had a great week last week attending a lot of the Springville Art City Days festivities. In fact, I think we did so much that I don't think I can remember everything. So here are some of the highlights. While Stockton and I slept in one morning, David took the girls to see the hot air balloons. They came home and talked about it all day. We also attended the fireman's breakfast one morning and the girls loved the fact that we ate breakfast in the fire station while the fire trucks had to be parked on the street.

Tayah learned how to pedal her bike finally last week, so the next day we decided to celebrate by going to the Children's Parade here in Springville. The kids go about 2 blocks and circle back the same route, and they can go on scooters, bikes, strollers, etc. We didn't get their bikes decorated, but luckily not too many people did, so they weren't sad about it. In fact, I think their favorite part was the otter pops they passed out at the end. The girls thought it was great that they were in a parade-they didn't even seem to notice that there were only about 5 spectators (a few grandmas cheering on their grandkids). Stockton tagged along with me and was happy as a lark in his stroller, just watching all the kids around him. We then headed over to the Springville Art Museum for a Childrens Art Festival. They had lots of different booths set up where the kids could make different crafts. We opted for the most young kid friendly, and the shortest lines. They made kites, glue globs (paint with glue and colored sand sprinkled over that), "Stained Glass pictures" (with markers, coffee filters, and a spray bottle), and lots more that I can't remember.

The next day we went to the grand parade on Main Street and the girls loved it. Stockton and Kadence weren't too sure about all the fire trucks and their horns at the beginning of the parade, but Tayah loved it. They still throw out a bunch of candy in this parade, and we had some great laughs watching the girls timidly trying to get some candy. They would run out to a piece of candy, then bend down slowly, and more often than not, as they started reaching for the piece, someone else that was quicker would snatch it right up. They finally started getting quicker, but didn't really understand that they could pick up more than one piece at a time. It was fun to watch them be so excited. We came home with lots of tootsie rolls and happy kids. That afternoon, we drove up to Sandy and attended the Utah Asian Festival. There were lots of booths selling their wares and several booths even selling asian food. They had various performing groups, some craft activities for kids, and the highlight of course was the face painting.

Kadence has been asking David and I on and off for the last month or so if she could get her hair cut. She wanted it cut short like her friend, but when I explained that if it was that short then she wouldn't be able to have braids or ponytails anymore (I wanted to make sure she understood that whatever hair cut she wanted would be permanent, that we couldn't put the hair back on if she changed her mind), she looked torn. I suggested that maybe we could give her "medium" hair, and she brightened right up. We've been trying to do it the last several days, but between trips to the pool, and Stockton taking a short afternoon nap, we weren't able to cut it until today. She was really excited when I pulled out my Christmas present (hair cutting kit), put the drape on her, got out the scissors, and started spraying her hair to get it all wet. She sat so still and just smiled the whole time. After we finished, she looked in the mirror a few times, all the while still smiling. I told her how beautiful she was and her response was, "I know Mom, I do look beautiful with medium hair." All Tayah would say in response is "I don't want all that hair on the floor." Apparently I wasn't sweeping up the 4+ inches of hair on the floor. It looks really cute, and it's definitely different seeing her with shorter hair. Hopefully she'll still love it over the next little while. I'm sure she'll enjoy not getting so many knots in her hair!

Not to be left out, here's a picture of our cute Stockton!

May Nuts and Bolts

Okay, here is the Cliff Notes version of our May 2010. Enjoy!


• Attended the annual BYU President’s Dinner where the Howard Barben family was honored. Enjoyed seeing Grandpa and Lynette there. As usual, it is wonderful to see such generous donors. We were privileged to hear from both Elder Oaks and Elder Nelson.

• Celebrated Elizabeth and the mothers in our lives, as well as in our ward by covering for the sisters. We got together with the family and then on the actual day, it was just the five of us. We are so grateful to Elizabeth for all she does!

• Attended an international eConference about social media and online fundraising. Quite interesting to see how technologies are changing the way we do things.

• Attended scouting roundtable to get ready for the Friends of Scouting campaign.

• Went to a Sunday afternoon concert at the Springville Museum. Children lasted about four or five songs…not bad!

• Elizabeth and I went to the reception of a great friend from our singles ward.

• Attended all of Carissa’s big events: Prom night (at least met the young man who took her out), seminary graduation, and her actual graduation. Congrats Carissa!

• Attended our stake seminary graduation.

• Loved watching our pinewood derby.

• Elizabeth had her usual Young Women activities.

• Tracted out our mobile home park with the full-time and ward missionaries.

• Helped Sarah move into her new townhome. It’s a wonderful place and we hope she will enjoy it there!

• Attended the Eagle court of honor for our ward’s first Eagle Scout.

• Our kids managed to get cuter and cuter. Kadence finished up the year of preschool. Tayah learned how to pedal on her bike. Stockton entered the Springville baby contest. All in a month’s work!

More Adventures!

First off, some fun things our girls have said this week:
Kadenceisms:
She had hurt her ankle one side, but a few minutes later, was rubbing the other side.  I asked why it was hurting there now and she replied "I changed my mind Daddy."

"Cinderella sent me some e-mail messages..."

Tayahisms:
"I like candy that makes my teeth stick together."

A few of the new adventures:
-We went to the Utah Lake Festival at Utah Lake on Saturday and had a good time.  There were booths, games for the kids, and lots of fishing/outdoors stuff that didn't interest us a whole lot.  Still, it was something different and we enjoyed having Andrea's kids with us (they were here last weekend for Avery's soccer tournament).
-For date night, Elizabeth and I took in the Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand concert up at the Sandy Amphitheatre.  Fantastic music, great entertainers, nice (slightly raining) weather, and a beautiful girl.  Not a bad night at all!  Anyone who has seen them will agree, they are fun musicians. 

-I attended all three days of our ward's youth conference at Aspen Grove.  What remarkable youth!  We had 21 come.  Among other things, we played games, hiked Stewart Falls, had several workshops (missionary work, dating, education, preparing for the future, and doing things the right way), a pair of firesides, a dance, lots of food, and great bonding experiences.  I managed to get a memorable sunburn, but other than that...fantastic time!
-We helped plan our big Smith Family Home Evening held at Grandma Smith's residence in Orem.  We had a fun time playing Family Feud.  We love our family. 

I'm one of these "Crazy Mormons"

Earlier this week, Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer was on his annual circuit of radio appearances, jockeying for free agency position.  He did it last year when he thought he was going to opt out of his Jazz contract, extolling the virtues of him in a Miami Heat or Chicago Bulls uniform.  Well, our favorite player is up to it again, but thankfully, he is not needing to insert his foot into his mouth.

Well, he was interviewed by a Miami sports-talk radio personality, WQAM 560-AM's Sid Rosenberg, a so-called shock talk radio host.  I've included the link above if you want to hear it, but he goes on to call Utah a "horrible place to live," and also said "But those Mormon people are crazy, aren't they."  Boozer, to his credit, stuck up for both Utah saying it's a great place to raise a family and that the Mormons are "not bad at all."  Rosenberg has since been reprimanded by the station and asked to stay away from religion.  The manager Lee Felman said, however, "that this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion" and that he "asked the question if Mormons were crazy in a very tongue-and-check manner and absolutely no malice was intended."  So basically, he reprimanded him, but defended him at the same time. 

Now, I'm not overly offended by this, but I do think that his comments were uncalled for.  Many worse things have been said over the years, which leads me to my biggest gripe: why are Mormons an easy target?  Why can things like this be said about Mormons?  What if Rosenberg or ESPN's Ric Bucher (back in 2007 said that Utah Jazz fans are so rabid because "they're Mormons...they don't have anything else to do.") cited other religious groups like Jews or Baptists, a race like Latinos or Blacks, or a group like gay and lesbian individuals?  The uproar would be huge and most likely would cause them to lose their jobs.  It would be national news.  But because it's the Mormon church, it's seemingly benign.  Frankly I think this double standard is ridiculous and unfair.  

Anyways, I'm not losing sleep over this, but merely wanted to express my opinions.  I know that this is our family's blog, but just wanted a few moments on the soap box!  I am proud to be a Mormon.  Everything good in my life has come as a result of my membership in the Church.  My wonderful family, knowledges of truths that mean the world to me, the opportunity to serve a mission to Japan, eternal relationships with my loved ones, the scriptures, the temples, the values, and so forth and so forth.  If these things make me "crazy," then so be it!